This talk was recorded at the Institute for Critical Animal Studies Oceania 2015 Conference in Melbourne. You can find out more information about this conference here: http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/conference-schedule/

You can find links to listen to other talks from the conference here: http://progressivepodcastaustralia.com/2015/08/14/108/

This recording is thanks to Kate from Freedom of Species: http://www.freedomofspecies.org/

Below is further information about the talk from the conference booklet, available here: http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2015-booklet-final-.pdf

Embodied Learning Processes in Animal Activism

LARA DREW

This paper addresses an aspect of my doctoral research which considers the

nature of animal activists’ learning as they engage in social action. As

exploitation escalates, social movements develop, and more activists seek to

create change using direct action tactics. Direct action activists learn as they

act inherently making social movements central sites of learning to incite and

mobilise change. Of particular interested is the embodied learning processes

of one group of animal liberation activists in Australia as they engage in direct

action work. These learning processes are significantly embodied involving

affect, feelings, emotions, the body and other animals, however, relatively

little is known. By using a storying approach this presentation shows how the

emotions, the physical body and other animals interplay with the learning

process in practices of activism. Using a radical educational framework

underpinned by critical animal studies and feminist theory, this paper

reorients the way in which learning can be understood, challenging the

rational educational discourse which privileges the mind as the sole source of

learning.

Lara Drew is a final year PhD candidate at the University of Canberra

(Australia) in Education. Her principal research lies in the field of

learning and pedagogy, radical education, community development,

activism, and critical animal studies. Lara’s other research and writing

activities include feminism and the body, and anarchist and anticapitalist

positions. Lara is a project director for the Oceania Institute

for Critical Animal Studies chapter and participates in various

grassroots campaigns.

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